Free Fall
by DarkRanger12
Summary: After a freak accident, a pair of friends find them in a bit of trouble in a world so close yet so far...
1. Chapter 1

Left field Productions Presents

**Free Fall**

A Bubblegum Crisis 2032 Fan-fiction Written By Darkranger12 and Shanejayell

Chapter One

Dan blinked furiously, trying to get rid of the spots out of his eyes. He staggered abit out of the alley way, stumbled through a throng of people and nearly stepped into the busy street when someone yanked him back. Dan urked then yelped when he was whriled around in the middle of the sidewalk. He blinked abit, then winced when the person slapped his cheek. "Snap out of it! Are you trying to get killed!?"

Dan blinked blinked at the figure then grunted. She had silver hair pulled into a ponytail and was dressed in casual clothes. "Tennyo?!"

"Who else," Tennyo stated with slight smirk then asked seriously. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Dan shook his head then frowned a bit. "But why were we in alley way?"

"Never mind that..." Tennyo frowned as she glanced about, taking everything in. there were tall buildings all around them. All the signs were in Japanese and at least a few of the buildings had what appeared to be giant LCD screens on them.

"What the fuck?" Dan blinke "I think we're not in Kansas Toto."

"It seems we're not in academy city...that's for sure." Tennyo noted.

"Right..." Dan nodded then frowned a bit. He looked troubled and wondered if he should speak up.

"What?" Tennyo had to ask.

"You know how you said anime rots my brain? It may have happened." Dan looked sheepish.

"Do tell..." Tennyo made an odd face.

"This looks a LOT like Bubblegum Crisis..." Dan noted.

"Oh please..." Tennyo rolled her eyes.

"That is a boomer, Tennyo,"" Dan pointed at it. Moments later a six wheeled POLICE APC rolled by "...and that was an AD Police Van. Seriously, Tennyo. I think we're in a parallel world where Bubblegum Crisis exists."

"Okay. Say it is..." Tennyo noted then leaned in. "Question is...which version."

"Hopefully not the latter one, or Sylia will be hitting on you." Dan sighed.

"That's not the worst fate..." Tennyo shook her head.

"All right, we need more information," Dan thought aloud, "let's find a library."

"There's a phone kiosk over there, let's see if we can call up a map first." Tennyo noted.

"We can do that too..." Dan nodded as he followed her over to the Kiosk. She tabbed a few buttons and called up a map of a city that was sort of familiar to her. It LOOKED like the tokyo that she knew but it had a big gouge in it and several artifical islands on its shore line.

"Mega...Tokyo?" Tennyo noted.

"Oh crap," Dan breathed out. "There seems to be a large island in the center of the bay too."

"And this district here..Genom City?" Tennyo frowned when she pointed at a section of the city.

"WHAT?!" Dan blinked, thought a bit then frowned as he gazed at the section of the city. "This is bad. Very bad. What's the date?"

"April 2nd...2036?" Tennyo blinked.

Dan blinked then leaned against the kiosk wall. He shook his head, with his brows furrowed in confusion. "Damn it...all that I know is up to 2034..."

"Hmmm..." Tennyo murmured then smiled a very thin and long smile at him. "...and if it was earlier...would you have been the brave hero?"

"Shut up..." Dan grumbled rolling his eyes.

"Um...excuse me?" A woman with a raspy yet high voice piped up. Both turned, taking in the youngish looking woman in a crisp military style uniform. She was short had wavy red hair and big green eyes.

'Oh crap! Its Romanova...' Dan nearly lost it. 'I hope she didn't hear that.'

"Could you two please move on..." She said apologetically to both Dan and Tennyo. "We had a report of a public disturbance. Someone thought you were impersonating ADP officers, but I can see it's just cosplay."

Both Dan and Tennyo looked down then grunted when they saw that both were wearing their anti-skill light tactical armor.

"Still, it's not the best thing to wear out in public," Nene added then smiled. "So if you two wouldn't mind..."

"We'll get changed as soon as possible, officer," Dan promised as Tennyo looked up the nearest library.

"Good..." Nene Romanova nodded.

"Now if you'll excuse us..." Dan nodded and the pair walked off. Nene watched them go, frowning thoughtfully. Nene walked back to her patrol car then picked up a phone sitting in a cradle.

"Leon are you there..." Nene asked.

"Go ahead Nene-chan," Leon McNichol's gruff voice replied. "Did you catch the guys in riot gear?"

"Well...no...something seems...off." Nene replied, thought, then exclaimed. "OH! I remember now! They were dressed up from that show with the Lightning girl! They had riot gear too!"

"You still watch that stuff?" Leon chuckled.

"Shut up Leon-poo." Nene grumbled then asked "Should I keep an eye out for them?"

"Well, they are probably harmless nuts..." Leon noted.

"I'll set the survelance around them to auto-monitoring. If they do something really strange, we'll know."

"Right..." Leon agreed.

Nene hung up, glanced about, then accessed the local camera feed on her device. She searched around for her targets then found them.

"Gotcha...now to see what they're up too." Nene noted, pocketed the device then trotted after them. Meanwhile, Dan and Tennyo entered the 2nd metropolitian library with duffel bags in hand. The lobby was spacious and they were surrounded with boks. Tennyo noted how distracted Dan was and grabbed his hand...not wanting him to make a sceen.

"Com one, let's find a public access terminal," Tennyo sighed, leading him into the interior of the building.

"Right," Dan nodded.

The pair made there way through the building until they found a row of cubicles containing containing what appeared to be Mac Pro stations

"Ew," Tennyo made a face.

"Eh they're not that bad," Dan shrugged then suggested to his friend. "Let's log in on one.

"Right," Tennyo said as she hit the space bar to 'wake up' the PC. Thankfully the browser was recent-ish.

"Oooh Firefox. Not bad." Dan noted.

"Nevermind that..." Tennyo shook her head. "What should I be looking for?"

"Do a search on major corporations and Public Services," Dan murmured as he sat next to her. "Filter out the banks and the like. All I'm interested in right now is to know who the major players are."

"You want a search on all of the major corporations?" Tennyo arched an eyebrow.

"Your Right..." Dan conceded then sighed. Just look for the major multinationals instead okay?"

"Do you want me to look through ALL of the public services? Or just the emergency services, Dan?" Tennyo teased.

"Just the emergency services," Dan rolled his eyes.

"Right," Tennyo nodded, typed it in then waited for the search results to come back. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna scan the headlines a bit on the computer next to yours." Dan shrugged then hummed. "Maybe I'll find something useful."

""Right," Tennyo agreed as she used google to start searching. The silver haired woman frowned thoughtfully as she sifted through the hits, pulling up what could be useful while ignoring those that weren't. At first she wasn't sure about Dan's assumption, but now, as she searched she had a sinking feeling that he might be right. She called up a story about Genom City read through it then smirked a bit.

'To a point, that is,' Tennyo thought then wondered if she should tease him about it.

Meanwhile Dan paged through article after article, matching up information that he knew from the anime series. "Wiz Laboratory destroyed in 2023...Earthquake in 2025. Massive rebuilding effort soon after. Biomechanoids going berserk shortly there after. AD Police is formed...the vigilante group knight sabers appear around in 2031..."

Tennyo frowned listening in as she paged through a few hits from google.

"This place is insane..." Tennyo muttered and shook her head. "There are four major corporations fighting for territory. It must be a powder keg out there."

"Oh?" Dan blinked and looked at her searches. "GENOM, Gullf and Bradley, SEARRS...Archangel...what the hell?"

"I take it they weren't a part of the canon?" Tennyo whispered.

"Well the first two. Guess things have progressed?" Dan shrugged.

"Probably so..." Tennyo nodded then nudged him. "Anything else you remember..."

"Still searching," Dan shrugged then suggested to Tennyo. "Maybe we should do a people search too?"

"Who are you looking for..." Tennyo asked.

"Well, the leads obviously. And there are other characters who could be important. Dan noted.

"All right...but what are you going to do with this knowledge?" Tennyo asked.

"Dunno yet...still need time to think," Dan sighed.

"Well whatever it is...just promise me one thing..." Tennyo mused.

"What?" Dan blinked.

"Don't keep me out of the loop...talk to me...okay?" Tennyo gazed evenly at him. "Also if someone says Get in the Robot...you answer NO."

"Right right..." Dan nodded, grabbed a piece of scrap paper, scribbled a few names down and passed it over to her. "Could you look these names up please?"

"Oh sure, I'm your secretary now.." Tennyo rolled her eyes then glanced at his screen. "...mad car chase...vampire incidents...orbital strikes around the world...  
Vision..."

Dan frowned as he looked at the article from January 1st 2034AD. "She moved to Japan to become an idol? Asagiri of the Replicants hasn't been seen for months."

"Did something happen?" Tennyo whispered.

"Possibly..." Dan nodded then glanced through a few more articles then looked at the photo of the knight sabers. He blinked then frowned. "Wait a minute...there are five of them now? Huh. Is this a dsivergent timeline or..?"

"Its possible.." Tennyo nodded then.

Dan clicked on a few more images, them blinked as she saw an image of what appeared to be the ruins of a spaceship...buried half way into the lunar surface...it was also VERY familiar to him too. "Oh...Oh no."

"What...did they find the Macross?" Tennyo teased.

"It's not THAT bad...but it is worrisome." Dan rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, in a luxurious office a computer logged the searches, and flags went up. At the same time, a signal went out to a portable data unit. Nene blinked as her device chimed.

"What the...the library? She called up the image then yelped. "Those to again?!"!"

Nene frowned then hummed as she poured over the searches that they made. "Why would they be looking for information on us?"

Within the luxurious offce, Sylia Stingray, already dressed, frowned thoughtfully at the data on the flatscreen monitor. It concerned her greatly that someone or something was making an extensive search on herself and her team mates.

"This is very troubling, very troubling indeed," Sylia noted as she sat at her desk. As she gazed at the screen, the door on the left clacked open. Priss Asagiri stepped out in a robe, toweling off her hair. She gazed fondly at Sylia, noting to herself how close they have gotten over the years, then frowned when she saw the look of grave concern on Sylia's face.

"Is something wrong Sylia?" Priss wondered as she stepped up to the desk.

"Definitely," Sylia sighed then gestured to the hits on her screen. "Someone's looking into us, Priss."

"Could it be another reporter?" Priss asked.

"There's too much inside information," Sylia noted, still frowning "search strings on all of us, and several KS related incidents."

"Hmmm..." Priss mused then noted. "I guess its too dangerous to send one of us out to check on them." She glanced at the data some more and had an idea. "But look, they didn't search for Reika Chang," Priss pointed out, "not by name anyway. Why not ask her to shadow them, see what they're up to?"

Sylia sat back. "That's not a bad idea," she conceded

"Question is...who are we looking for?" Priss asked then blinked when Nene sent an encripted email to Sylia. "Oh its Nene..."

Sylia opened the encrypted mail and sat back when she saw Dan and Tennyo at the computer. Priss blinked then grinned. "Gotcha...but why at second metropolitan library?"

"Well, they might think it's harder to trace them from a public place..." Sylia noted then sent the photo and the location to Reika with instructions to tail the pair.  
After that she called up a facial recognition program. "I'll see if these two match what we have on file."

"Won't that take a while?" Priss asked.

"Yes..." Sylia nodded then pulled her close. "But I think I know how to spend the time."

"Do tell..." Priss grinned then moaned as Sylia lips carressed her kneck. "Ah...Sylia."

Meanwhile...

"So what now?" Tennyo asked Dan as she stretched her arms.

Dan idly tapped a finger on the mouse, seemingly lost in thought as he gazed at the reports on his monitor. He then sat back in his seat and looked to Tennyo. "I say we lay low for a while...find a job or two...for now."

"Its a start..." Tennyo nodded thoughtfully then glanced at him. "lets do a search for job openings. Maybe we'll find something."

"Where are you gonna look?" Dan asked.

"Might try a resturant close by," Tennyo shrugged.

"Good idea," Dan nodded then hummed thoughtfully "There are a few openings for automotive mechanics here too. Want to try these places?"

"Of course..." Tennyo nodded. The pair copied the addresses down, closed their searches and quickly and quietly exitted the library. They traveled around Tinsel City trying to apply for jobs but the pair soon realized a few flaws in their plan.

"What's your work history like..." A grim looking man asked as he stood at a desk of an auto repair shop on the outskirts of Tinsel city.

"Work history...?" Dan blinked thought then scratched his head. "...well...uhm...you see..."

"Yeah right, not interested," The grim man with a ponytail shook his head. He waved him away with a sweeping gesture "Get out of here will ya."

"R-Right sorry to bother you," Dan nodded and quickly left the office. He padded out of the repair shop looking dejected and frustrated at the same time. "Damn it..."

"What?" Tennyo asked him. "Did you expect it to be easy?"

"...a little," Dan sighed.

"This may be a fictional world from our perspective, but it's real to them. So no, it's gonna be like real life for us too..." Tennyo noted.

"Right..." Dan nodded then asked her. "What are we gonna do?"

"Keep applying. If someone actually lets you work on a car, you can prove you can do it," Tennyo noted

"So we should try old fashioned garages..." Dan mused. Moments later, there was a cry of help. Normally people would call the police, but the pair, as members of anti-skill, dashed off without a second thought.

They hurried down the street, heading towards the the source of the sound, then charged into an alleyway. Tennyo grunted when she saw a pair of mugger trying rob a defenseless old man. The old man had receding white hair and a white mustache and was wearing a tan jump suit. Dan, meanwhile, grunted when he recognized the old man almost immediately. 'Dr Raven?!'

"Take care of the old man!" Tennyo charged the young men, "I got this!"

"What?" Dan blinked as Tennyo rushed in. She slammed a hand palm out into one guys jaw, causing the guy to stagger. His partner let the old man go and swipped at Tennyo.

"We'd better get clear, sir," Dan told him as he helped Dr. Raven up.

"THanks," Raven grunted. He then looked over at Tennyo as she dodged their attacks, parried a few strikes then slammed a hand into one of the muggers faces

"Wow." Raven blinked.

Dan winched when he heard what sounded like a bone fracturing and tugged the old man away. "Come on, sir.. it's likely to get unpleasant to watch."

"Of course..." Raven nodded and the pair made their way out of the alleyway into the darkened street. Dan winced when he heard a few cracks, crunches, and a few sickening sounding moans.

Tennyo trotted after then a few moments later. "I needed that."

"Your a good fighter..." Raven noted, still leaning on Dan for support.

"I try. Are you hurt, sir?" Tennyo asked solicitously.

"Banged me up some," Raven admitted. "Could you help me along?"

"Of course..." Dan nodded.

Tennyo looked at Dan curiously, then nodded. "We're glad to help," she agreed.

"Whats your names by the way?" The old man asked.

"I'm Tennyo...Tennyo Masaki." Tennyo nodded then gestured to Dan. "His name is Dan Wisner. He's...a friend of mine. Who are you sir?"

"Doctor Raven.| the old man introduced himself, "I run a garage not far from here."

Tennyo glanced at Dan then at Raven then nodded.

"We'll get you there," she agreed.

"You kids new in town?" Raven asked

"How did you know?" Dan asked.

"Most people other than cops woulda walked right by." Raven admitted.

"Well we are kind of new..." Dan noted.

"Just off the boat, so to speak," Tennyo said, sweat dropping a bit. "We've been looking around for a job for a while now and we're really beat

"Hm, well, you can rest up for a bit at my garage," The older man noted gruffly.

"Thank you sir..." Tennyo nodded.

******A short time later******

"Got grease under your fingernails and cuts on your hands," Raven noted at the garage, having gotten the kids some tea. "So, Mr Wisner, do you work on cars alot?"

"Well, when my friends aren't bugging me," Dan admitted rueully

"Hmm...lets see what you can do." Raven mused.

"Really?" Dan blinked

"Of course..." Raven nodded then walked out of the office. Dan looked at Tennyo, who shrugged with a smile. Dan grinned then followed Dr Raven into the maintenence bay of his garage. There were at least a few cars waiting to be fixed up. At the far end was an old junker of a car.

"Take a look at this and tell me what's wrong with it," Raven instructed as he gestured to the car.

"Okay..." Dan nodded and popped the hood. Dan nodded and popped the hood. He lifted the hood up and took a good look inside. It was a hybrid engine for sure but...  
damn did it look simple compared to a fuel-cell car. Or one of Chao's models. He lifted the manifolds, opened the case's of both the combustion engine and the electric generator and peered insided. "Damn...The generator looks worn and the pistons need work...but lets make sure."

Dan rolled up his sleeps and began to tinker, checking parts and connections. Dr Raven watched Dan work, mildly impressed. After a bit Dan pulled his head out of the hood and looked at him. "Can you start her up?"

"Already?" Raven blinked, geting behind the wheel. The car started up with a throaty humm. "Not bad..."

"Hybrid cars are a bit tricky..." Dan noted, "but that seems to have done it."

"Very nice," Raven agreed after he shut the car down. Coming around to whgere Dan stood he added, "I'm getting a little old for this job, I could use a assistant. You interested?"

"Seriously?!" Dan blinked, glanced at Tennyo, who just nodded. "Of course...we could use the cash...what with us being off the boat and all, y'know."

Raven looked amused. "And I expect you don;t have ID?" h asked

"Well, we do but I have no idea if it's valid," Tennyo decided to be frank

Raven grunted. "Well, I don't think you're out to rob me, so we'll let that pass for now," he decided

"Thank you," Tennyo nodded.

"Your welcome..." Raven nodded then asked them. "Do you have a place to stay?"

Both of them shook their head.

"I can clear out a store room, I think," Raven shrugged. "Aint comfy, but it'll do for now."

"That will do," Tennyo nodded then bowed. "Thank you very much."

******Later******

"Well that takes care of that..." Tennyo noted as she sat on a cot then glanced at Dan. "Now what?"

"I can't BELIEVE how lucky we got," Dan noted, shaking his head

"How so?" Tennyo asked.

"He's a minor character from Bubblegum Crisis!" Dan murmured quietly.

"Yeah..." Dan nodded then sighed. "However...I am thankful for this."

"So.. what does he do in the series?" Tennyo asked.

"Helps build Motoslaves, as I recall. Other stuff too." Dan nodded.

"So we've wandered into their support group?" Tennyo asked him.

"Most likely..." Dan nodded then sighed. "We'd better keep quiet about this around him though."

"Right..." Tennyo nodded then yawned. "Well we have a busy day tommorrow. Lets get some rest."

"Right..." Dan nodded.

******The next morning******

"They're WHERE?" Sylia blinked as she listened to the other person on the line. She was in bed in her nightgown and Priss was cuddled up next to her. Priss frowned,  
wondering where the people were looking for were holed up now.

"Raven's garage." Reika Chang noted as she sat in in a flat across from the garage then asked "Should we be concerned, Sylia?"

"Raven's garage?" Sylia hummed, not noticing the concern on Priss's face. "This could work to our advantage. We can keep an eye on them there?"

"Understood, Reika out," Reika answered crisply then cut the link.

"So they're crashing at Raven's garage? And you're okay with that?" Priss blinked.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Sylia noted as she gazed at Priss "We can monitor them there easier than if they're wandering all over town."

"If you say so..." Priss shrugged.

"I do," Sylia nodded then looked at her. "Care to check on them yourself?"

"Me?" Priss pointed at herself.

"I just want to see what they will do, can you do that?" Sylia smiled.

"Fine, but you owe me one," Priss noted.

******An hour later******

Dan munched on a piece of toast as Tennyo went over the want ads while she ate breakfast too. They ate quietly, with a smattering of small talk being shared between them. It was nice to have a secure place, but it was also important to keep that place.

"Hmmm...there are a few places to choose from" Tennyo noted then looked up at Dan and teased a bit. "..though I don't think I'll be as lucky as you."

"Stop..." Dan made a face. He perked up when he heard the throaty rumble of a high performance motorcycle engine pull into the garage and then stopped. "First customer?"

"Better finish up your meal and get down there," Tennyo noted.

"Right..." Dan nodded.

"Hey Pops!" a voice called.

Dan and Tennyo exchanged a look as they heard him complain, "It's Doctor, damn it!"

"Never mind that...I need a refill of the raven special...okay Pops," Priss waved that off.

"Its Doctor, I tell you," Dr Raven grumped.

"Is that?" Tennyo asked

"I think so," Dan left the kitchen in a hurry to get down to the garage. Once he was at the garage door he quickly slipped inside the maintenance bay to see what was going on. The woman in biking leathers looked older than Dan was expecting, Then again, she'd been through a lot, Dan figured. Priss looked around then noticed Dan lurking in the background. She turned to Dr Raven and murmured to the older man.

"Hey, who's the kid?" Priss asked curiously as she stood next to a monster of a high performance bike.

"My new assistant, Dan." Dr Raven then waved him over. Dan obliged and look a good look at her. She still had long hair, thankfully but it was much more tustled than he remembered. Still he would recognize that face anywhere. "Dan, meet Priss Asagiri, my most annoying customer."

"I'm not THAT bad." Priss lied.

"You keep calling me pops damn it," Raven grumbled.

"Anyway, nice to meetcha," Priss reached out with a hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Priss, Dan blinked then smiled, nodding as they shook hands. Dan noticed how strong her grip was and how smooth her skin was.

"Ah, you can let go now, okay, Danny-boy," Priss noted with a with half lidded eyes and a knowing smile on her face.

"Gack," Dan tugged his hand away causing Priss to laugh. Dan sweatdropped and shook his head. 'Why does everyone call me that?'

"Dan, could you go start on that bike we were tuning?" Raven asked mildly

"Oh right," Dan nodded and made his way over to the motorcycle and went to work, checking the connections on the bikes electric generator first.

"Priss...a moment," Raven murmured waved her to the back of the maintenance bay. "There's something odd about him and his friend.. haven't put my finger on it yet. I don't think they set up rescuing me, they're not the type, but something is off."

Priss thought about telling him what Sylia said, then decided not to. No point making him paranoid. "We'll keep an eye on them, just in case," she said.

"Thank you..." Dr Raven nodded.

EOF

Bubblegum Crisis and all of its characters are copyrighted to AIC and Kenichi Sonoda. This is a shoujo ai/yuri story, as well as a self insert and if nether is your liking I'd suggest hitting the back button.


	2. Chapter 2

**May 14th 2036 AD**

"I really don't like doing this." Dan muttered as he sat in a bar. The young man sipped on a coke as the other patrons of the bar minded their own buisness or eyed him warily.

The private eye Fargo gave Dan a look, "YOu need the IDs, right kid?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dan nodded glumly as he handed the sandy haired man the cash.

"THe photos you gave me were kind of crap, but I've made these IDs for you," Fargo passed them over.

Dan blinked when he looked at the IDs then looked up at him. "You got my name?"

"Yeah. The time doesn't match up but a American with the same name passed on." Fargo nodded then shrugged his shoulders. "I just used his birth certificate to make it."

"I...see..." Dan nodded then looked through the information and pocketed it.

"I couldn't make a perfect match for miss Tennyo, but a hacking associate of mine set this up for her," he passed the other ID over.

"Kiyone...Makibi?" Dan blinked

"Thanks," Tennyo smiled.

"Your welcome," Fargo nodded and the pair exitted the bar quietly. Fargo watched them go, frowning thoughtfully. Raven had asked him to help the kids out, and he suspected Sylia was involved too. As usual.

Meanwhile, the pair strolled down the street talking to themselves.

"Kiyone Makibi..." Dan noted then sighed. "Its going to be odd calling that you know."

"Eh, it's a old family name," Tennyo, now Kiyone Makibi, waved it off.

"Really?" Dan blinked.

"Really," Kiyone nodded then looked at him curiously. "So...who do you think this world's Dan was?"

"I'd rather not think about it." Dan frowned and sighed. He thought a bit more then shook his head and added. "Might not even be me for all we know."

"Don't want to know?" Kiyone asked him.

"Pretty much..." Dan nodded.

"Understandable," Kiyone patted his shoulder as they walked down the street.

Free Fall

Chapter Two

**May 17th 2036 AD**

Sylia Stingray tapped at a keyboard, looking annoyed She had plugged updated information in on the two mystery people, but so far she only had a unrelated hit from the US. A corporate espionage case, very messy. But this Dan was too old to be the one they were dealing with.

"Boomer incident...?" Sylia mused.

"Are you still obsessing over that?" Priss asked as she slipped over to Sylia's desk.

"Its odd..." Sylia frowned and showed her the data. "This Dan was 36 but the one that's now working for Dr Raven is only 22."

"Well, they DO look alike. Brothers?" Priss asked.

"With the same name?" Sylia arched her eyebrow.

"Damn if I know," Priss admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "Parents liked naming their kids Dan?"

"The odd thing is I'm getting no hits on his friend, Kiyone," Sylia noted.

"As in, she's in disguise?" Priss asked.

"AS in, no hits at ALL. The facial match should have SOMETHIUNG come up." Sylia shook her head.

"Huh," Priss looked at the data then shrugged. "Then she's not in the records. What of it?"

"I have, well, nearly global access, Priss," Sylia shook her head, looking somewhat annoyed. "She should be here somewhere, especially after weeks of searching. It's as if she doesn't exist."

"...and she knows about us too?" Priss asked.

"Her and Wisner know something," Sylia said. frowning a bit. "They haven't done any searches since that first night...at least not on us."

"What else are they searching on?" Priss asked.

"Esoteric physics and dimensional theory." Sylia shrugged.

"Dwah? Most people just look for porn." Priss blurted.

"Mr. Wisner was also doing searches on military technology," Sylia noted then nodded. "Mostly on heavy armor, vehicles battle rifles, and power suits."

"They haven't made any purchases yet have they?" Priss frowned warily.

"No...it just looks like causal searching on his part." Sylia noted then frowned thoughtfully. "But why would they look up things like Dimensional theory...? Something isn't adding up."

Priss sighed and sat in her lap "Sylia...your thinking about it too much. It'll come to you, eventually."

"And you are a most welcome distraction," Sylia conceded with a smile. Priss grinned and leans in to kiss Sylia deeply. The pair kissed deeply, forgetting, if only for the moment, of the current problems they were facing.

Mackie Stingray and Nene peeked in, both wanting to talk about the people that Sylia was looking into, then sighed when they saw the pair making out in Sylia's chair. The pair retreated then sighed.

"They're at it again." Mackie sighed.

"...and Priss gets really cranky when we interrupt them." Nene noted then looked over at him with a grin on her face. "Wanna continue our game, then?"

"Yeah," Mackie noted, smiling. "I'm game for another Yamato Online session."

"Didn't you create a new character?" Nene asked as they walked to his room.

"Jiro Yamada, yeah," Mackie nodded then smiled as they sat down at a pair of laptops after entering the boys room. "He's already up to a lieutenant commander and in control of a light cruiser too."

"You couldn't come up with better than John Smith?" Nene nudged him as they booted up their computers.

Mackie stuck his tongue out. Nene laughed as they settled in for another session on the popular online game. "Actually I met a guy calling himself JOhn Smith online too. Westerner, but good player."

"What a geek," Nene laughed.

Mysteriously, Dan Wisner sneezed.

"Something wrong?" Kiyone asked.

"Someone's talking about me?" Dan wondered as he waited for the Yamato online launcher to pop on the computers desktop.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Kiyone asked.

"It's my day off!" Dan protested. "Besides, I made a play date for Yamato Online."

"Seriously..." Kiyone gave him a look.

"It's a good way to network," Dan explained.

"Uh huh." rolled her eyes then shook her head. "Just don't let it interfere with your work okay?"

"Right right," Dan sighed.

Kiyone sighed and continued her earch on dimension theory online, hoping to find something useful. The pair quietly agreed that they needed to return sometime, as it is this wasn't their home. However, they both knew it wasn't going to be easy and that they needed a semi-permanent place to stay. They were grateful for the space that Dr. Raven provided for them, its just that it was a bit crampt and both of them needed their space. Unfortunately for them it was hard to find vacancies. Plus, the rent wasn't cheap, even for such a place as Timex city.

She frowned then switched from one search thread and moved onto another matter. A job of her own. While Dr Raven's pay was good the initial expenses, the fake IDs the computers and groceries ate into quite a bit of Dan's first pay checks.

Tennyo frowned thoughtfully as she went over her options. She could become a martial artist instructor but she was concerned that someone might question her training. She could work as security, but the high casualty rate worried her. Working as a chef would be promising, and she knew japanese, chinese and italian cuisine. However, since she has no references she would have to have to talk to the manager and the head chef.

However, she could as a bouncer for a bar or...a host for a hostess club. Hostess clubs would hire and didn't investigate much, but tended to be rather sketchy.  
Still, the pay was reputed to be pretty good. She sat back and considered it. She wouldn't dare tell Dan about it. It would be embarrassing. Still, it was something to look into...along with other options. Meanwhile, she'd keep an eye on Dan and make sure that he was keeping out of trouble. Granted he could protect himself against non augmented people, but he'd be at a sheer disadvantage against boomers and boomeroids.

**That same day...**

"Alright settle down people," Sylia stated crisply then called up an image of a series of ten story steel and glass building. "A heavily armed team raided Sarif Industries's Ares research facility two days ago."

"And?" Priss demanded. She HATED Sylia's dramatic pauses.

Sylia gave her a look which caused Priss to shut up. Sylia gazed at the group and continued. "They made their way trough building C, fought Sarif's security teams and stole something that Sarif wants us to retrieve."

"Did they just waltz in there?" Priss asked then frowned as images of a heavily armed squad strode through the hall way. All were equiped with high grade cybernetics and wear armed to the teeth with heavy cannons and modular rifles. "I guess they did."

"While they were defeated, Sarif's security teams gave the mercenary team quite a fight," Sylia noted thoughtfully. "Sarif has more combat cyborgs now after the attach on their home office in Detroit."

"I saw clips of that online, before they killed the story," Priss noted

"It was quite gruesome...a lot of people died that day," Reika frowned.

"Shouldn't their top agents and security officers be on this case?" Nene asked curiously.

"They're dealing with something else in Europe, that's why we've been called in." Sylia informed them. "Sarif wants us to retrieve the item the combat team stole from them."

"Have they given us any details about this item?" Linna asked.

"No...which I find very strange an worrisome," Sylia frowne then looked at the redhead. "Nene...can you look into what they were doing at the Ares research facility."

"Right..." Nene nodded and made her way to a bank of laptops and police scanners. The little red head went to work, tapping at her keyboard as she delved into the facilities mainframe. into the facilities. "Got it. Officially it's a medical prostetics research facility..but in reality it's a military cybernetics research center."

Priss frowned and crosses her arms. "What were they up to?"

"Nothing good I can imagine," Linna frowned.

"Everything from concealed weapon to strength enhancement to illegal full body upgrades..." Nene frowned then sighed as she looked up at Sylia. "What should we do?"

"What we were hired to do..recover this case," Sylia gestured to an image of four bulky men carrying what looked like a coffin. "Whatever is in the case is the target."

"Can they get it out of there?" Linna asked.

"Not easily. The security system will destroy it if unauthorized access happens." Nene shook her head.

"But you could hack it?" Reika asked

"Given a few days, probably." Nene shrugged then frowned when she thought of something. "...though they might be trying to do the same thing. Can I have back up?"

"Yes, I'll have Mackie help you hack the case's system," Sylia nodded then sat back. "I want the rest of you to look into this matter. Be discreet. That goes for you too, Priss."

"Right, right, Sylia Oneesama..." Priss teased her.

**May 21st 2036AD**

Kiyone Makibi walked down the steps towards a below ground club, eying the tough lady at the door. She had dusky skin, dark hair and was dressed in riding leathers.  
The dark haired woman frowned as Kiyone approached and stepped up to her. She folded her arms over her chest and gazed evenly at Kiyone. "Your new. What's your name, new comer?"

"My name's Kiyone Makibi," Kiyone stated firmly as she gazed evenly at the dusky skinned woman. "Ms. King is expecting me. I'm here for a job. Will you let me pass?"

"Thank you," Kiyone Makibi nodded and walked up to the door. She pushed it open and found herself in a tastefully decorated establishment. A waitress walked by, wearing what looked like an Anna millers uniform. She looked around, taking everything in. There were girls in tuxedoes sitting with patrons, who, she found were mostly female. The staff seemed intent on charming the lady customers too, Kiyone noted to herself.

"Not a man in sight," Kiyone noted, frowning thoughtfully. 'Is it THAT sort of club?'

"Oooh, you're a pretty one," the floor manager noted Kiyone turned and saw a busty brunette smiling at her. She had a tray in hand and her hand on her hip.

"Hi , I have a appointment with King I believe?" Kiyone nodded

"Your Kiyone?" The brunette blinked then grinned. "Jeez. The customers are gonna just eat you up."

"H-Hey, I haven't even taken the job yet!" Kiyone laughed.

Mai Shiranai," she introduced herself," follow me, I'll take you to the boss before you change your mind."

"Thank you," Kiyone Makibi nodded and followed her through the roomy club, through a pair of double doors through the kitchen. They climbed up a flight of stairs to what appeared to be the clubs second floor. There wasn't any noise so she expected it to be sound proofed and the walls looked clean.

Kiyone followed Mai, who knocked on the door marked 'Manager.' "King! The new blood is here!

"Let her in," A deep voice answered her knock.

"Good luck," Mai murmured as she waved Kiyone inside.

"Thank you," Kiyone nodded, took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold. The blonde looked up from a tablet then smiled as as Kiyone entered. " I presume.

"You look better than on the view screen," the blond noted. She offered her hand, "I'm King."

"Nice to meet you," Kiyone nodded, shaking her hand.

"Thanks, take a seat," KIng waved her to a chair. Kiyone sat down and waited patiently as King looked something over on the tablet.

"So, I think you're a good fit for the club," King admitted, "do you know what sort of club we are?"

"Somewhat?" Kiyone shrugged then nodded. "It's a host club, primarily for women who like women."

"Spot on," King nodded then smiled. "Our customers come her to relax and of for our hostesses company."

"And.. more?" Kiyone asked.

"I'm fairly certain some women arrange to meet staff later, but..."

"I understand..." Kiyone nodded.

"Also, we expect all new staff members to be capable at self defense," King noted dryly then smiled at her. "Are you up for a demonstration?"

"I guess I have no choice, do I," Kiyone sighed, smiling wryly at King.

"No, you don't. Follow me. I'll show you where our sparring area is." King shook her head, got out of her seat and strolled towards the door. Kiyone followed suit, wondering what she's about to get herself into.

**Two hours later**

Reika Chang waded through a busy resturant, making her way to a booth in the back. A woman with short red hair nursed a drink as she approached then smiled wryly up at Reika.  
"Long time no see, Reika."

Reika nodded as she sat down, "It's nice to see you again, Haruhi."

"You don't usually contact our branch of the family," the other woman noted, "trouble?"

"I'm...looking into something," Reika murmured.

Haruhi waved for a waiter to bring them something to drink. "I can't promise much.. Hou Bang has reduced it's activities since you left."

Reika looked at her with a firm gaze. "That was my choice, Haruhi. I wanted to do something else with my life. Something that I could my own."

"I understand," Haruhi agreed. "You decided to embrace the path of peace after avenging your sister." She paused then added deliberately, "So how's the knight Sabers thing working out."

Reika winced. "POint..."

"So what are you looking into?" Haruhi asked.

"An attack on a Sarif industries research facility in Megatokyo," Reika nodded then hummed. "It happened several days ago. Heard anything?"

"...I have heard a few things on the matter," Haruhi noted then smiled knowingly at Reika. "But it'll definitely cost you. Say tickets for me and a few friends to your next show...Miss Vision."

"Fine, its a deal," Reika sighed then nodded to the redhead. "Now what do you know about the attackers?"

**Meanwhile in a secret location.**

"All right, we got the stuff," the big man with sandy hair as his men deposited the container on the ground. He then turned to a woman wearing a dark blue pant suit and a white shirt. Standing next to her was a woman in a sleek powersuit. "Now. where's our pay?"

"I've got it right here...Jo?" The woman nodded. With a burst of speed, Jo went to work, attacking the larger men with her built rapiers. The woman in the pant suit watched on passively as Jo sliced, stabbed and punched her way through the cyborgs, making quick work of them. A girl with long brown hair stood back, looking on in hor as Jo she sliced into the groups arms and leg, incapacitating them. Each fell to the ground with a sickening thud, twiching and groaning with pain.

The bulky leader fell to one knee as he clutched his side as sparks flew from severed elecronics and synthetic musculature. "Damned bitch. We did the job so why did you take out my entire team!"

"NO CASUALTIES, asshole." Jo hissed.

Sei nodded, "This was supposed to be a clean operation. We even provided you with special equipment to do it... and instead you just shot the place up."

"So what now?" Jo asked.

"Finish him," Sei frowned.

"Right," Jo nodded and pointed a single barrel cannon at the guys head.

"NO! Wait!" The cyborg blurted then fell over when Jo shot the large caliber bullet in his head.

"What a mess," Sei sighed.

"Did we have to do that?" Meg asked, wearing another set of armor.

"Yes..." Sei sighed then shook her head. "His group wouldn't have been punished if we just let them go."

"Even so..." Meg began.

"Meg it was necessary, so drop it," Jo grumbled.

"Right..." Meg sighed, dropping it indeed.

"It's a imperfect world," Sei added, shrugging. "We just do the best we can in it."

"Yeah," Jo nodded

"We should get moving," Sei noted after glancing at her watch then glanced over at the women. "Get the extra case from the truck and torch the place."

"Well, this is a mess," Sylia echoed Sei unknowingly, several hours later.

"What do you think happened?" Reika asked as they studied the scene

"Looks like a falling out between crooks. Someone fired a weapon and things went to hell," Priss mused.

"No," Sylia shook her head, "Someone made it look like they fought each other..."

"But who would do such a thing?" Linna asked.

"Good question," Sylia admitted. "Nene?"

Nene nodded and sensors popped out of her backpack as well as her helmet.

"The helmet sensors looks so silly, no matter how many times I see it" Priss shook her head.

"Quiet you..." Linna noted.

"The bullet wounds don't match up..." Nene noted then pointed the severed limbs "...and I don't think these guys have arm blades either."

Sylia monitored the data feed and nodded. "Shot from behind. The box over there, half melted, was supposed to be the target."

"Set up to throw us off?" Linna asked

"Well, the police and corporate security, anyway," Sylia said

the looked to Reika. "have you looked into their employer?"

"Its Bai Lan..." Reika hissed.

"I take it that the Hou Bang and Bai Lan do not get along?" Sylia asked.

"You could say that," Reika noted dryly.

"We'll have to look into this further..." Sylia mused thoughtfully then looked to Nene. "The rest of us will spread out. Nene Stay here and keep scanning the area for evidence."

"All right, I'm sending data to all of you, I want you to go to these locations and do a deep scan," Nene ordered, sending them data of where she plotted the attackers having stood.

"Right," The others replied and hurried off to the locations.

The others searched the areas quickly, trying to find anything about the attackers.

"THis ius such a waste of time," Priss bitched as her search came up cold.

"Less complaining, more scanning." Nene replied.

"Got something," Reika noted, "footprint, I think. Doesn't match the bodies."

"Send me the data, Reika," Nene replied crisply, plugging the data into her simulation program. After a moment she muttered, "THat can't be right."

"Hmm?" Reika blinked.

"By weight estimation would imply the person is ten feet tall." Nene frowned.

"Or armored?" Sylia commented.

"CRap. Yes, or armored..." Nene nodded then frowned. "But what's even weirder is that they're our size."

"THat's bad, right?" Priss asked

"Extremely bad," LInna said dryly as she scanned her area. She frowned when she caught the faint trail of armored footsteps, moving away from the incident site. "Got a trail here."

"I've got what MIGHT be faint traces, but.. might not be too," Reika noted

"They're very careful. I guess just one got a bit careless." Sylia noted as she looked around. She sighed then frowned then trodded off to where Linna was.

The pair walked down a short corridor then stopped when they came to the edge. Linna blinked at the trail then looked back at Sylia. "The trail ends here. Do you think they Flew off?"

"Or jumped away like we do," Nene said over the commline. "See the deeper footprint? We do that when we jump."

"Indeed," Sylia nodded frowning. "Nene sweep this area clean..."

"What?" Nene blinked. "Why?"

"Do we really want to be tagged as the bad guys again," Reika noted.

"But the cops won't be anble to investigate..." Nene pouted a bit.

"We'll leave the bodies instead..." Sylia noted crisply after thinking abit. "It'll keep the cops busy."

"And the box?" Priss asked.

"We'll take it with us," Sylia nodded then hummed. "But not before we check for any traps. Nene can you do a quick scan."

"Yes ma'am," Nene nodded and extended a cable to interface with the unit, humming softly. "Let's see... firewall up. Scanning system."

How long will this take," Priss grumped.

"Not long," Nene noted then gasped when her scan already found a lot of trojans. "Sylia this thing is one big trap. It'll take time to get rid of all of these things to see if theres any useful information."

"Shall we leave this for AD Police too?" Priss joked.

"Don't even joke like that." Nene grumbled then continued. "They'd TOTALLY compromise the ADP systems..."

"And that's bad why?"

"Would you like a enemy reprograming every ADP gunship to shoot at US?" Nene griped.

"Point..." Priss murmured.

"Knock it off you two," Linna sighed then looked at Sylia after checking her HUD. "AD POLICE response helicopters are heading our way. I think we should go."

"Right..." Sylia nodded then looked at Reika and Priss. "Priss you get the case, Reika back her up. Carry it to the trailer. The rest of us will disperse. Understood."

"Oh sure, WE get to do the heavy lifting..." Priss grumped as she stalked over to the case.

"Stop complaining Asagiri and lift," Reika sighed.

"Right right..." Priss grumbled.

**The next day.**

"Sylia, the AD Police have finished with the crime scene." Nene reported.

"...and?" Sylia asked crisply.

"I hacked their coms and data. Nothing interesting."

"So they know less than we do," Sylia murmured then sighed. "How is the case coming along."

"Getting through all the viruses is taking a bit of work," Nene noted then sighed. "I do have some data, in that I know who made some of the viruses etc. The programing is as destinctive as a signature."

"Its a hacker, she's quite good," Nene noted. "She hit the US stock exchanges a few years back, made all the screens read insults about the President."

"I see," Sylia hummed then sighed. "Do you know who she belongs too?"

"A group afiliated with Bai Lan..." Nene noted.

"I think I need to talk with Reika again," Sylia sighed then nodded. "Keep up the good work Nene."

"Will do," Nene agreed tiredly.

**A few days later.**

Dan watched Kiyone hurrying out the door as he worked on a boxy looking car's hybrid engine. "Hey Kiyone. HOw's the job search going?"

"I have a few leads. Don't wait up." Kiyone Makibi answered him evasively.

"Right," Dan sighed. He rather suspected she already had a job, and wasn't telling him for whatever reason. He shrugged and continued to work on the boxy looking toyota. He continued to work on the machine, then pulled his head out of the hood just as Priss pulled up on her monster of a bike.

"Hard at work again I see, Danny boy," Priss noted as she climbed off her bike.

Dan did his damndest not to notice the skin tight leather bodysuit.

"Hmm," Priss grinned, noticing Dan trying hard not to look at her. Ah, boys. She may not like them that way, but it was fun to see them react. Plus she could kick his ass if he made a pass at her. Priss shifted a bit, making the leather creek a bit and drawing Dan's eyes.

"Oi, just where are you looking at, Danny boy," Priss mock scolded him.

Dan flushed then meekly said, "Sorry, ma'am."

"You're supposed to deny it, damn it. " Priss grumped, pouting a bit. "then I force it out of you. More fun that way."

"Hate to spoil your fun," Dr Raven frowned as he walked up to the pair. "But Dan has work to do."

"Aww alright pops," Priss pouted then winked at Dan Dan blushed, then busied himself with the enghine he was tuning. Meanwhile the pair wandered off to the other side of the garage to talk in private.

"Thanks for spoiling my fun, Pops." Priss frowned.

"Doctor Raven, please." Doctor Raven frowned.

"Whatever, Pops." Priss waved it away then glanced at him. "How's progress on the Motoslaves?"

"I'm tuning them up, but it's going to take time." Dr Raven noted quietly.

"Damn it, we may need them tonight," Priss frowned.

"Is this about your latest job?" Raven noted.

"Sort of. It's looking more and more like we're gonna need the extra firepower." Priss murmured.

"And you can't easily tote the big guns in your regular armor," RAven nodded

"Yeah," Priss nodded then look at him. "So please doctor...get the motoroids up and running as soon as you can. We need these bikes by tonight."

"If I drop other jobs, I can get two done. Possibly." Raven frowned

Priss looked over at Dan working.

"How good IS Wisner?" she mused.

Raven got where she was going. "You think it's safe to ask him?"

"Just tell him that its a confidential job..." Priss nodded. "Besides, if he spills anything, Sylia will take steps."

"Damn you can be cold blooded," Raven sighed

"Goes with the job." Priss shrugged and wandered over to her bike. "Get it done either way. Okay?"

"Right," Raven sighed as the brown haired woman climbed on her bike.

Priss glanced behind her and grinned as Dan went to work on another engine. Priss whistled at him causing him to look up from the engine. Priss wiggled her but for Dan's benefit, causing Dan to jolt up then banged his head on the hood. "Ow!"

"Catch ya later, Danny boy," Priss smiled and waved at Dan then raced off. "I still got it."

EOF

Meg, Jo and Sei are from Gonzo's Burst Angel. King and Mai Shiranui are copyrighted to SNK Playmore. Priss, Sylia, Linna, Nene are from AIC's Bubblegum Crisis.


End file.
